Changing the subject? Which was, in case you didn't notice, the battery you said GM and Mobil buried. Which was indeed the Ovonic NiMH battery (Generation II), not anything being done today.
A concept. Yawn.
Not as long as the ones in London. Doesn't mean they don't cost money to maintain. And they cost a lot more than that to build.
What do you think they spend their budget on, besides ghost jobs for politician's friends, anyway?
Actually IF you read the documentation on the demise of the GM - EV (and that of the Dodge EV) you will see that the L-ion was the up and commer that was killed in the U.S., HOWEVER - as is typical, the Japanese ran with it like they ran with flat screen monitors after American companies said they were "SHIT!" Maybe if you took the time to be a LITTLE less closed minded and you saw the documentary that has been running on the HD_Net channel you MIGHT see the performance of the car. Both in terms of speed and service life on a charge. And that is even BEFORE a NEW battery technology being pioneered by the Chinese that ahs twice the capacity of the L-ion battery. I was amused that his CONCEPT CAR that is IMPOSSIBLE - blew the doors off a $60,000 Porsche in a drag race. At over 250 MPH as tested with the L-ion battery it can run almost 200 miles. At a more reasonable speed, say something under 100 MPH, it likely would get near the 400 mile range for recharging. With the new battery being made in China, probably better. As to Johnny Race Car, do you think he'll want to go faster than 250 MPH? Faster than to beat a Porsche or Corvette in a drag race? Can you drive your car around town at over 250 MPH Matt?
WTF is your major malfunction? Are you stupid? Unable to read? or just a jackass? It's a problem that requires near constant human intervention or the system fills up with WATER. Moron. Sealing, pumping, draining, and so on.
No. The GM EV-1 was slated to have a new NiMh battery, made by Ovonic. That's the company which ended up owned by XOM. A LiIon battery was never planned for the GM EV-1.
The largest makers of flat screens are Korean, actually. And the US was out of the monitor business before the flat screens became at all popular.
Apparently you don't understand "concept car". It's built to explore a concept. Anything not necessary to the concept can be compromised upon or left out. The Porsche is a production vehicle (not even an exotic), with all the constraints that implies.
I'll split my bet between (a) and (c).
You can build a tunnel damn near anywhere. Yes, it costs money as you go deeper, but doesnt make a shit if it is under a swamp or a mountain. It is ***money***that is the driver
And getting Americans to spend money for infrastructure is damn near impossible.
--scott
That's not the point. The L-ion battery was coming. The NiMh battery was a stopgap. Not a very good one. Now the Chinese have a new battery that is miles better than L-ion.
TODAY Matt they are Korean and Taiwanese. BUT back when flat screen monitors first started they were built in Japan. NO American company would consider them. U.S. companies were still making CRT monitors IN the U.S.. You seem to forget how long the flat screens have been with us. They didn't pop up last week.
The car in question is called a "PROTOTYPE" and they do not use the term "CONCEPT CAR." Maybe you might like to look at the CONCEPT CARS by Mitsubishi.They have them in testing. You say the Porsche is NOT exotic?
That's probably the most true and intelligent contribution to the conversation so far. It *could* be done but probably never will be. This is NOWHERE NEAR the same nation it was in 1880. I don't mean technology. The U.S. of 1880 was a nation of risk takers, of pioneers. We just are NOT those people any more.
The main problem isn't corruption, so much as the fact that everybody wants to do it as cheaply as possible. And trying to do things cheaply winds up costing a lot more money in the long run.
When you have a project that goes on for years and years, it's easy for money to just start disappearing. When you come in, do it quickly with as large a crew as possible, and get out fast, it's harder for corruption to become endemic because there's no time for it.
When you have people who have a job for life on a project, they aren't going to be motivated to do the job quickly or well.
--scott
No, it wasn't. Not even on the horizon.
Sure they do. They can't even make ordinary LiIon cells without catching a few laptops on fire. Currently there is no battery which is "miles better" than lithium ion. LiFePO4 (a largely American-developed technology) has many advantages, but the other LiIon chemistries beat it for energy/weight, for instance.
Whatever you say Matt, you DO love to argue. Maybe you don't realize that the Lithium Ion battery goes back to 1970? READ the HISTORY. I did N OLT sauy it was being made in the millions. I said it was COMING dammit.
Jesus Christ you *KNOW* everything don't you Matt. Nobody can tell you a damn thing. Watch the HD-Net documentary and THEN tell me all the YOU know better than the people actually DOING the work.
No, it just seems that way because you're so totally ignorant.
Watch the documentary and see who doesn't know a thing, Matt.
I'm not really interested in spending an hour and a half watching a propaganda piece. If you have actual verifiable references, e.g. to this supposed superior Chinese battery, post them. So far all you've posted is baseless claims and demonstrable nonsense.
Further, that documentary was released in 2006. Where's that miracle Chinese battery now? Surely XOM couldn't have bought that one too...
Your mind is made up and you REFUSE to be confused with the FACTS. By the way it is only 50 minutes.
NiMh was and is a good technology.
13 years ago the EV-1 had these and had a 140 mile range. 9 year old Toyota RAV4EV's with the original batts are still on the road with 100+ mile range and good performance. While heavier than Li tech and with less energy density, it still works just fine.HTH Ben
We're not going to see people rushing toward electric cars until the battery has more watts per pound than a tank of gasoline does.
And when we get to that point there will be some big safety issues to deal with. It took fifty years to figure out how to carry a tank of gasoline around safely (and some car manufacturers still have some difficulty doing it). I expect similar problems carrying around high energy density batteries too. We'll figure out how to do it, but it might take a while.
--scott
snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:h1oeq3$5pc$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:
Severla months ago,I saw a boat at a nearby dock that had an electrical short and caught fire,around the steering console.The operator was tossing buckets of WATER on his burning fiberglass boat trying to put it out,and since the battery was still connected,it kept burning(carbon conducts electricity). when the fire dept arrived,they took one look and yelled back to bring the cutters,and snipped the battery cables,both of them. For a high energy auto power pack,with MUCH higher voltage and amperage,it becomes critical to have good safety built in.
The boat had no quick-disconnect,no master fusible link.It may not have had any fuses....
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.